Trials and Tribulations
by lalakkaayy
Summary: Back to sophomore year; Still got all your relationships, secrets, lies, and drama, with tons of twists of course.
1. Chapter 1: Plus Sign

A/N: I've had this whole idea processing in my head for a while now since my birthday back in May when my dad got me the season 1 DVDs of Glee. Basically this is my redo of season one, with some of the same things that happened in the show, and some that totally didn't. Some of the lines used by certain people might be the same or pretty close to the same sometimes too because I liked them. Sam and Blaine are a part of this story, things all tie in. Hopefully you guys like it :) –Kay.

Chapter 1-

Quinn stared down at the little pink plus sign. It was like it was mocking her. It was only two months into sophomore year, she was fifteen years old, captain of the Cheerios, dating the star quarterback. She was on top of the world, this couldn't be happening, not to her. She shook the plastic stick again and blinked a few times, thinking that maybe that might change the result or stop her from seeing the nightmarish vision in front of her, but obviously it didn't. There was no changing this one. She was pregnant, Quinn Fabray was pregnant. And it wasn't even with her dope of a boyfriend's baby. Of course, that was something that she wasn't going to admit to. Being pregnant at this age was bad enough, knowing everything she was going to lose once other people found out about it. She wasn't losing her boyfriend on top of that, not when in a couple months he was going to be all she had left –well that and that _stupid _glee club she had joined only to make sure Manhands kept away from her man. A small part of her felt bad. Finn was innocent, and being completely honest with herself, he was a moron. She was going to be taking advantage of that by telling him she was pregnant with his baby. It wasn't like she could tell him what really happened anyway.

Volunteering to be a counselor at a two month long summer camp for community service hours had seemed like a good plan. She supposed just because of the current circumstance she couldn't really call the idea of going to the camp a bad one, just her decision while she was at the camp was. She wasn't the only student from McKinley that had volunteered, though most avoided it. It was something that her parents recommended her to do too, something that would look good for the church they went to when they could brag about her volunteer work on top of her being head Cheerio and president of the celibacy club. Sam Evans had volunteered too. Ironically enough he even went to her church. He'd just moved to Lima the year before and she barely knew much about the guy other than the fact that he went to church, played football, and had a huge mouth. She hoped in this case it was just a literal huge mouth and not a figurative one. If he went around telling people that they had slept together at camp her life would be over. Though, when she thought about it, Sam really didn't seem like the type of guy to go around broadcasting that sort of thing. Especially when he knew she was dating Finn, and Finn was his teammate on the football team.

The blonde's breath shook as she felt threatening tears sting her eyes. Fifteen years old and pregnant. It kept repeating in her head. A knock on the bathroom door made her jump nearly a foot in the air.

"Quinnie, you're going to be late for your morning Cheerios practice if you don't hurry." Her mother noted outside the door.

Cheerios practice sounded about as appealing as putting her face to a lit stove at the moment. Especially after having spent the last half hour throwing up and then taking a pregnancy test that mentally she had probably already known the answer to. She wrapped the test up in enough tissue to hide it in the trashcan and took a few deep breaths and she washed her hands, then tightened her blonde ponytail. She took one last look at her reflection, running her hand down over her currently flat stomach in her Cheerios uniform, then stepped out of the bathroom. She grabbed her book bag and her Cheerios bag, said her goodbyes to her parents, then went out to her red Mini Cooper. The gift from her father seemed like some kind of saving grace today. She couldn't imagine having to sit in the car on the drive to school with either one of her parents this morning. As it was, going to Cheerios practice wasn't going to help her feel any better either. At least her drive to school gave her a little bit of time to think.

She wouldn't tell anyone but Finn, and she would be telling Finn it was his baby. But how? She had been holding out on Finn for the whole four months that they'd been dating. They'd only been dating a month before she hooked up with Sam, but that was beside the point. Just last month they'd been making out in the hot tub and he'd… well he'd pulled a Finn. If she worded her explanation right he would totally believe it. He was that naïve as sad as it was. Until she had the guts to blurt it out to him, she would just avoid him. Even at school. That was her plan, and as she pulled into her normal parking spot in the student parking lot at school, she decided it was a good one. Santana and Brittany were waiting for her at the front of the school like they usually did. She forced a smile toward them and they smiled back. She'd gotten good at faking things.

"So get this, Coach Sylvester called off practice but she said if she finds out that if any of us go home to get some more sleep then come back she'll kick us out." Santana said, clearly displeased.

"She likes it when I sleep though, she says its better." Brittany noted.

Santana and Quinn shared a look and chose not to dignify that statement with a comment. Quinn was a little more than irritated that after everything she'd already dealt with that morning, she was stuck just sitting at school doing nothing for an extra hour and a half before classes even started. It would be at least a half hour before there was even anyone on campus for her to sneer and make rude comments at. The football team was probably around. Both the Cheerios and them had morning practices nearly every day lately.

"Is the football team here?" she asked Santana.

The Latina nodded, "Yeah, but Coach Tenaka didn't even show up, so they're all just kinda wandering around too. Your Frankenteen was looking for you about twenty minutes ago, but he's probably drooling on the locker room floor by now." She shrugged.

Quinn laughed lightly, feigning actually finding humor in the statement. She wasn't going out of her way to find Finn. The fact that he was looking for her normally would have had her going to find him right away, but not today. Today was all about avoiding him until she absolutely couldn't anymore.

"Yo Lopez!"

All three girls turned at the sound of Noah Puckerman's voice from across the parking lot. It was no secret that _something _was going on between Puck and Santana. Most times they were dating, but the key word there was most. This morning it didn't look that way based on the way Santana folded her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes at his approach.

"Is there any reason you're coming over here to make my morning worse?" she sneered at him.

Puck chuckled with a smirk, "I see the Ice Princess is in full reign today." He let his eyes move over to Brittany and Quinn, "Pierce. Fabray."

Quinn grimaced and nodded at him. She glanced over her shoulder once then faced forward again. It was going to be one of those 'looking over the shoulder' days. Whether it was because of Finn or Sam or even Coach Sylvester.

"You're looking a little green Fabray." Puck pointed out, making a face.

The blonde felt her stomach turn at the comment, the sickness that was apparently already clear on her face hitting her stomach. She muttered some lie about how she had had some bad eggs for breakfast and took off in the direction of the hallway, looking for a trashcan. Unfortunately the closest one was the one right in between the boy's and girl's locker rooms. She groaned as her stomach finished emptying itself again. This already sucked more than she thought it would, and that was saying something.

"Quinn?"

Her eyes widened and she stood up straighter almost immediately. Sam looked at her with a mixture of confusion and concern on his face. She hadn't said more than two words to him since that night at camp. Sure, they saw each other every day in the halls, then with football and Cheerios, not to mention glee club –since he'd decided to join that too- they even saw each other most Sundays at church, but she never took the time to talk to him. In fact most times she even avoided making eye contact or being alone with him. Now was definitely the worst time possible for them to run into each other on their own.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked, taking a step closer to her.

She stumbled a step back. "Yeah, fine. Flu." She muttered quickly before turning away from him and hurrying back down the hall the way she'd come.

Brittany was standing there by herself now and Quinn kinked a brow in question.

"Where's Santana?" she asked.

Brittany shrugged, "Puck said something about hockey and tonsils. What's a tonsil Quinn?"

Quinn rolled her eyes. She didn't explain anything to Brittany, just shook her head a little bit. Leave it to Puck and Santana to go off and have a make out session an hour before school even started.

The day seemed to go agonizingly slow, but that could have had something to do with the nerves making work in Quinn's stomach. Luckily she hadn't thrown up anymore, it seemed that for the moment the whole morning sickness thing had actually stuck to the morning for now. Avoiding Finn was difficult, especially in Spanish class which they had together, her sitting in the seat directly behind him. She had managed to convince Mr. Schue that her eyes were bothering her today so she needed to sit closer so that she could actually see the board to get out of being in that seat and in questioning area the whole period. It was odd not talking to Finn, she was so used to being on his arm all the time. She wouldn't put it passed Rachel to be all over the fact that she wasn't around for the day. Rachel would be the last of her worries once she told Finn about the pregnancy. It wasn't until it came time for the last period of the day –glee club- that Quinn couldn't avoid him anymore. He cut her off at the door, pulling her off around the corner where they weren't too many people.

"What gives, you've been avoiding me all day." He said.

She bit her lip and looked passed him down the hall at some of the other passerby. She knew she wouldn't have been able to avoid him for an entire day, but she hadn't exactly planned out how she was going to tell him this either. Her eyes stung, filling with tears that she tried to blink away at first, then decided would actually help her case. Proving her point, Finn's face automatically changed from annoyed to concerned.

"What's wrong? If I did something I'm sorry." He noted.

"I'm pregnant." She blurted out, letting the tears fall freely now.

Finn's jaw hung open and he gaped at her for a moment. She turned her head and sniffled.

"My- Mine?" he stammered.

"Of course! Who else's would it be?" she replied.

"But.. but we didn't even do anything!" he argued.

This was where what she had thought up about the hot tub that morning was going to come into play.

"Last month. The hot tub? Apparently the water temperature helps sperm travel." She cried.

"Oh my god, oh my- what.. what are you gonna do? You're not gonna-"

She shook her head slowly, looking down at the floor. More tears rolled down her cheeks and she sniffled again.

"I-I really thought that I had everything, Cheerios, popularity, a shot at getting out of this place." A sob broke out as her voice cracked and she let herself lean forward so her head was against Finn's chest.

Finn's arms wrapped around her loosely. Based on the last glance she'd gotten at his face, he was still definitely in shock. Who wouldn't be though? She let herself cry against his chest for another minute before they both stood up straighter at the sound of Mr. Schuester calling them to come into glee club. The teacher's face took on a look of confused concern when he noticed Quinn wiping her eyes and the scared expression that seemed stuck on Finn's face. She quickly did her best to push it off as nothing, putting a smile on her face and looking up at Finn who grimaced down at her. They walked passed Mr. Schue into the choir room, both holding on tightly to each other's hands. Everyone's eyes were on them as they walked into the room, Finn with a new kind of lost look in his eyes, Quinn with her slightly smeared eye makeup and lightly pinked nose.

Sam's brow furrowed, Quinn noticed, as he looked at them. He kept his eyes on her for a moment and surprisingly she let her eyes stay connected with his. He mouthed the words 'You okay?' and she looked away, squeezing tighter onto Finn's hand. Sam could stay confused for now. He wasn't going to know anything about all of this anyway.


	2. Chapter 2: Shock

A/N: So I got this one done fast just because I had it fresh on the brain. This chapter is actually in a different point of view than Quinn's, and I'll probably switch that up a little bit every now and again just to get different sides of the different stories going on at once. This one's in Sam's point of view as you'll see when you read it. I'm excited about this story and I'm really glad that some of you are too based on your reviews, I really, really appreciate those. Hopefully you enjoy this one too :) –Kay.

Chapter 2-

Sam rolled his shoulders a couple times and pulled his shirt back on over his head. Football practice seemed to be getting harder and harder on the daily. Coach Tenaka was pretty dead-set on having them win at least one game this season and since that had yet to happen he was getting pretty mad, taking it out on then with harder practices and more yelling. It probably didn't help much that it was totally obvious he had the hots for Ms. Pillsbury who was totally crushing on Mr. Schuester. Adults always tried to make things not obvious, but they were really bad at it here, Sam noticed.

He'd finished taking a long shower and getting dressed and closed his locker after making sure that all his equipment was actually in it. He looked down the row of lockers as Finn slammed the metal door of his locker louder and ran a hand through his hair. It had been two days since that day in glee club where he and Quinn had showed up looking like they just heard someone died or something. Finn had been frustrated and seemed upset since then. Sam had thought to ask him about it, but even though they were teammates in both football and glee club, he really didn't think they were that close. Not to mention he felt a little awkward talking to the guy when he knew that he had lost his virginity to Finn's girlfriend, and she'd lost hers to him. That would make it a little difficult to talk to somebody straight.

Sam wasn't one of those guys that went out of his way to sleep around or to try and steal other guys girlfriends. That seemed more like something Puckerman would do, but lately he actually seemed to only be fixated on one girl in particular and that almost made the blonde boy feel worse about what had happened at camp. It was a couple of months ago now that it had happened, but it was getting to him every day. He actually liked Quinn, he had thought that maybe after that had happened between them she might change her mind about Finn, but if anything she had just clung onto Finn tighter. It didn't exactly make Sam feel any better. Was that going to stop him from being a man about things though? No. He wasn't going to let it. Taking a deep breath, he followed Finn out of the locker room and down the hall, catching up to him.

"Hey man, are you okay? You've seemed kinda upset the past few days." Sam pointed out, walking beside him.

"Yeah, it's kinda personal, but I'm alright." Finn mumbled.

"Well if you need someone to talk to, I'm all ears bro." It was probably one of the girlier things he had said, especially since he was saying it to another dude, but he didn't care.

Finn stopped walking and after a couple steps of not realizing the taller boy had stopped, Sam finally stopped too and turned back to look at him. Finn looked conflicted as his brow furrowed and he scratched the back of his head.

"You can't say anything to anyone alright?" he said quietly, moving his eyes back and forth down the hall at the people that were still walking by.

It was after school, but that didn't mean people weren't still around.

"Of course dude." Sam nodded.

Finn took a deep breath and looked down at the floor as he spoke, "Quinn's pregnant, and she's keeping the baby."

Sam was pretty sure he felt the world come to a complete standstill. He blinked a few times at Finn before the other boy walked away silently with a look of embarrassment on his face. Sam stayed where he was, standing in the middle of the hallway with his jaw hung open, his hearing turned into an echoing. This was even worse than when his parents had told him that after spending all his life in Tennessee, they were moving to Ohio. Ohio where he knew no one and would thrown into a high school just to be the new kid. Ohio where, now, he'd gotten himself in way more trouble than he could have imagined.

Quinn had told him that she and Finn hadn't done anything, and he highly doubted that that had changed since the two of them had gotten back from camp or since school started. Which meant… Which meant he needed to find Quinn. Now.

Cheerios practice usually got out not long after football practice unless it was one of Coach Sylvester's crazy days, but he had already seen the girls going into their locker room before he had gone off the field. He made his way back toward Quinn's hallway locker, knowing she always went there to grab the last of her things before she took off for the day –he paid attention. She was already there when he rounded the corner to get to it. Taking a deep breath, he walked up to her, trying to disclose the fact that everything on the inside of him was freaking out.

"Quinn." He said, and he was disappointed to find the way his voice shook like a scared little girl's.

Even so, Quinn flinched when she heard his voice there beside her. He swallowed around the lump in his throat, feeling a burning in his eyes. He was a dude, no way was he gonna cry. But how could he not? Here was this beautiful girl standing in front of him, a girl he'd been crushing on since moving here, a girl who he'd had sex with over the summer, a girl who was now carrying his child. And she had tried to keep that from him. He did his best to suck it up. He wanted this to be a serious conversation, not a sob-fest. He wasn't going to yell at her, that just wasn't him, but he needed to hear it from her.

"Sam… w-what's up?" she asked hesitantly.

His teeth worked at his lower lip for a moment as he met her eyes.

"When did you plan on telling me you're pregnant?" he asked softly.

Once again Quinn flinched, this time taking the time to glance back over her shoulder to make sure there wasn't anyone else around to hear. Her jaw tightened in that way he had seen her do when she was being defensive.

"Finn told you?" she snapped.

"You didn't answer my question.." he muttered quietly.

She folded her arms across her chest and looked passed him, her eyes turning into a glare. She didn't say anything and he felt his chest ache a little bit. She wasn't going to tell him, she was going to keep this whole thing from him. Or at least try to. She wouldn't exactly be able to hide the bump that would be her stomach in a couple months, and she wouldn't be able to not let it be heard around school. But she was going to let everyone believe that Finn got her pregnant, she was even willing to like to Finn to make it seem that way. For the second time in a ten minute time span, Sam felt like crying.

"That's my baby too." He said finally, his voice still quiet.

Quinn's glare snapped up to being on him, "No, this is _my _baby. As far as you or anyone else is concerned, the baby is mine and Finn's. I'll take care of it."

"Quinn, please." Sam moved closer to her, his eyes stinging even more than they had been before, "Look, if.. if you wanna tell Finn that it's his kid, fine, but you have to at least let me help you."

"No." she shook her head, looking down. "You've kinda done enough already."

Sam winced and closed his eyes for a second before taking a deep breath through his nose and looking at her again.

"This isn't only my fault." He pointed out. "_You_ kissed _me_, remember?"

Quinn glared at him again, "It was a mistake. It shouldn't have happened. I shouldn't have kissed you, I shouldn't have had sex with you. It was all a _mistake _okay?"

Sam felt his throat tighten and he clenched his teeth down together. She didn't even realize how much that actually hurt him to have her say that. Quinn shook her head, wiping away the couple tears that she'd shed.

"We're done here, alright? Don't say anything. To anyone." She said seriously before walking right passed him down the hall.

He stared at the empty space in front of him where she had just been standing for a moment before turning around to look down the hall and see her catching up to Finn, his large hand enveloping her small one. His chest felt like there was a boulder sitting on it. He was going to be a dad at sixteen. He was going to be a dad, but.. not going to be a dad, because the mother of his child wanted nothing to do with him. He took in a stuttering deep breath and left campus to go home, where he might finally let out the crying he had been holding back.

…

Finn still felt really weird about the whole thing. His girlfriend was pregnant, he was gonna be a dad. He had no idea how to do that, he didn't even know what that entitled as a teenager. How did you parent a child when you still were one? Quinn had already been on his case about keeping it all a secret, then he had gone and told Sam. He really didn't even know what had possessed him to just blurt it out to Sam. He didn't really talk to the kid that often. They were in football, glee, and a couple classes together, but they still didn't really know each other. Finn had seen Quinn talking to him after practice today too. Maybe Sam was just trying to be a good friend or teammate or whatever and he noticed that the two of them were going through something so he asked about it.

Now wasn't really the time for Finn to be thinking too much about what was stressing him out. Right now he needed to focus on the football game they were in the middle of. If they won this game at least they could say they had won a game. He looked over at Kurt, who for some strange reason he had helped get on the team, then looked at the scoreboard, then the guys huddled around him. They were already three-fourths of the way through the game and, naturally, they were losing. His eyes moved over to Quinn on the sidelines. With that smile on her face, cheering just like she had at every other game, it seemed like maybe things were just fine. Like maybe there was no baby at all. He shook his head, trying to clear it.

"Hudson! Get with the program, we've got a play to run!" Coach Tenaka shouted at him.

"Yeah, got it, sorry coach!" Finn yelled back.

He took another glance at the scoreboard, paying attention to the time this time around. Puck kinked a brow at him when he looked back at the huddle.

"Uhh, dude, hate to break it to you, but you're not exactly giving us a play here man." He said.

Finn pursed his lips for a second and stole another glance at Kurt on the bench, "We have to do the dance. Hear me out, we have to. They won't expect it and we can get a touchdown in while they're distracted."

"No way dude. I am _not _dancing, you guys can keep that to Homo Explosion." Karofsky mumbled, shaking his head.

"Shove it Karofsky." Puck said, shoving him.

"Do you really think that would work?" Mike asked.

"I don't know man, I think I'd feel kinda weird busting out Beyonce on the football field." Sam muttered.

Finn raised his voice over the chattering that had ensued, "You guys! What do we really have to lose? Our football team already sucks and this might give us some kind of shot. If it doesn't work then it doesn't work-"

"And we get labeled as losers for the rest of our high school lives." Puck mumbled under his breath, receiving a small shove from Matt on his right.

"We're already losers dude, look at us." Finn shook his head a bit, "We have to do it."

With a whole lot of reluctant mumbles and hesitant nods of the head, they had an agreement.

"Kurt, we need that song!"

.

Quinn really couldn't believe that she was actually witnessing what she was. Were the guys seriously _dancing _on the football field? She hid her hysterical laughter behind her pom-pom for a minute then decided she didn't want to miss the show and watched again. Santana leaned against her in her laughter, unable to stand up straight. They couldn't actually be dancing to Beyonce in the middle of their game, that just couldn't be happening. Then in an instant, the music was shut off and the play was being played out. Her eyes widened and she paid close attention as the ball was set up and thrown to Sam and he made his way toward the touchdown zone. Santana jumped up and down a couple times and Quinn's jaw dropped open. Everyone in the stands jumped to their feet, cheering, as the touchdown was made.

A wide smile came to her face and she jumped up and cheered too, catching Sam's eye across the field. Her smile faltered just a little bit, but they nodded once at each other before he ran to his awaiting teammates. Quinn bit down on her lip and Santana nudged her with her elbow.

"Now it's time for the kick." She noted.

Quinn nodded, "Okay girls, time for the kick. Come on!"

They turned to face the crowd, doing their normal job of getting them riled up and prepared for the play as the players on the field actually set it up. As the whistle was blown, they stopped their cheering and turned to face the field. If Kurt actually made this kick, the football team would finally have actually won a game. It would mean the world to Finn, especially after what she had dropped on him a couple days ago. Oddly enough, she didn't really feel that guilty that she was lying to Finn about the baby being his. He would take care of her, she knew that, and he would take care of the baby too. She would have to push him, but he would be there. When Sam had confronted her that afternoon, she wasn't sure how to react. She did regret the things she had said to Sam and the way that she had said them, but she couldn't have him ruining what she had. When she had said that he had already done enough, it was true. He had.

The whistle was blown again, pulling her from her thoughts. She paid close attention as Kurt got into position. A fit of giggles erupted from the line of Cheerios as the Beyonce music was once again turned on. She herself even cracked a smile. When Kurt kicked the ball up into the air it was like a moment of silence took place until it erupted into a loud cheering as the ball went through the field goal, getting them their winning point. She jumped up and down excitedly, a wide smile on her face as she clapped her pom-poms together, only to drop them when Finn ran up to her. He caught her in his arms, lifting her up a little bit to kiss her. Her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him in closer as she kissed him back. She could feel his wide smile against her lips.

When he let go of her and muttered something about seeing her after he had showered and changed, she nodded and let her eyes wander over to the bench. Sam was standing there over the bag of equipment. He had a sad, dejected look in his eyes. Quinn stared at him for a moment then took a deep breath, tilted her chin up a little bit, and walked away to go wait for Finn.


	3. Chapter 3: Frustrations

A/N: Thank you so much to all of you who have been leaving me the amazing reviews, I really, really appreciate them. I'm trying to do my best to follow the storyline that the show actually followed while throwing in my own twists at the same time obviously, but I can't get everything in there –I say this because the beginning of this chapter starts with Rachel having quit the club and having already joined up again, as well as Quinn already being off the Cheerios. So just not to confuse anyone. Hope you still like it :) –Kay.

Chapter 3-

Rachel was beginning to think that her crush on Finn was as pointless as any other crush she had in her life. Granted she really hadn't had that many, and maybe that was why with Finn she thought it would be different –they were totally musically compatible after all- but it didn't seem to be looking any better for her. The day that they had kissed in the auditorium before the welcome assembly a couple weeks ago wouldn't leave her mind. The fact that lately he seemed even more attached to Quinn than usual wasn't helping her to feel any better.

After Mr. Schuester had so cruelly given the Maria solo to Tina –when it was obviously destined to belong to one Rachel Berry- Rachel had quit the club, joining the school musical and landing the lead, naturally. It was where she belonged. Her talent was highlighted and properly appreciated, it was all the things that glee club wasn't giving her. At least, that's what she kept telling herself. It was a lot more lonely though, and she couldn't help but feel like even with Finn clinging to Quinn more lately, at least being in glee club he was _there_.

The other night when he'd taken her bowling, she had really thought that maybe she had a shot. When she'd jumped up and kissed him, he hadn't pushed her away, and after the fact he had practically begged her to join glee again. Of course, because it was him asking, she had, and for what? Only to find out that Quinn was pregnant and Finn only wanted her there for her talent. Devastated was the only emotion she could think to describe how she felt in the moment she found out. Any shot she had thought she had with Finn was completely lost in glee club's 'first official scandal', as Kurt called it.

Yet through her devastation –and anger, plenty of anger- instead of quitting glee club again like she thought she would, she suffered through it. So there she sat, through another day of rehearsals with Quinn singing _her _part. It was halfway through the first verse that abruptly the blonde rushed from the classroom, one arm wrapped around her stomach, another covering her mouth.

It was no secret already to the club that Quinn was pregnant, or much else of the school since Sue had found out and made a spectacle of kicking her off of the Cheerios and calling her a disgrace. Rachel remembered the way Quinn cried that day, the way Finn held her and tried to tell her it was okay even though he looked like he himself was far from okay. Now they were all getting used to her running out of rehearsals to empty the contents of her stomach.

Rachel looked at Finn who had rushed over to talk to Mr. Schue as soon as Quinn had left the room, probably saying something to look out for his pretty little girlfriend. Sam however seemed to get really edgy every time Quinn ran out the way she did. When he saw the look on her face he'd almost inch toward her as if he was going to be the one to comfort her and make her feel better. Now, letting her eyes focus on the blonde boy, Rachel realized that same uneasiness was there on his face now. Every couple of seconds his eyes would flick to the door to see if Quinn was coming back yet. The brunette got up from her seat and put a perfectly convincing smile on her face as she walked up beside him.

"You okay Sam?" she asked.

Sam raised a brow as he looked sideways at her and shifted on his feet, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You just look like you're kind of nervous or something." Rachel played off the statement with a light laugh to make it seem almost joking.

"I dunno why." Sam shrugged with one shoulder.

Rachel looked at him in a scrutinizing manner for a moment, receiving an odd look of confusion in return. The moment the door opened, Sam's eyes moved back to the blonde girl reentering the room. Quinn still looked a little green in the face and she still had an arm wrapped around her stomach. Finn hurried over to her, wrapping his arms around her and making sure she was okay. Rachel couldn't help but notice the way Sam's shoulders slumped the same way hers had a great many a time when she had witnessed the way Finn and Quinn were together. Did Sam _like _Quinn? Rachel moved her brown eyes back and forth between the two blondes for a moment, one giving the other full attention, the other barely acknowledging that. _No way_. she thought to herself.

When the bell rang, signaling their time to leave, Rachel rushed to keep up with Sam. She needed to test something.

"So Sam, this Friday night I'm having a musical movie marathon at my house. There will be popcorn and all sorts of good stuff, would you like to come?" she asked as she followed him down the hallway to his locker.

"Why are you talking to me Rachel?" he asked, "I mean, I get we're in glee together, but most times I make fun of how short you are behind your back and take Santana's advice to never talk to you so.. I don't get it."

For a moment she was verbally wounded, but after taking a deep breath she painted her typical, Rachel Berry smile on her face again.

"We're friends. Friends can have movie nights with friends can't they?" she offered.

Sam looked passed her down the hall and his jaw tightened. Rachel turned to glance over her shoulder just as Quinn and Finn were finally coming out of the choir room, their arms wound around each other. Hey eyes narrowed a little bit in thought before she turned to look at Sam again as he shut his locker.

"I think it'd be kinda weird Rach, sorry." He muttered, still looking at the blonde girl retreating down the hallway.

It was time to cut the beating around the bush that she was doing. She needed to get right down to the point to seal this plan that had the wheels in her head turning.

"Look Sam, it's obvious that you and I have something in common." She said.

Sam's eyes finally moved back to her, full of confusion, "And what's that exactly?"

"We both currently like someone that we can't have." She replied.

His eyes flicked down the hallway again just for an instant before looking back at her. He shifted on his feet and pursed his lips.

"So? What's your angle?" he asked.

"Jealousy." She said, and when she received a furrowed brow in response, she decided it would probably be best to go into further explanation, "I like Finn and it's pretty obvious you like Quinn. Now with all this baby drama involved I don't know how willing the two are to part from each other-"

"Let's not even bring the baby drama into this. Please." Sam mumbled looking down and swallowing thickly.

Rachel kinked a brow and stared at him silently for a minute before continuing in her previous explanation, "All we can do is try. If the two of us make it look like something's going on between us, they're bound to notice, and once they notice that means we'll have their attention. I should probably be feeling terrible about the fact that I'm willing to steal Finn away from the girl who's carrying his child-"

"Rachel." Sam snapped, giving her a glare.

She wasn't sure why he was so touchy about the pregnancy thing, maybe it was something he felt guilty about too and didn't want continuously brought up. She could understand that to a certain point.

"So are you in?" she asked, a tinge of hopefulness in her voice.

The blonde boy looked down the hall again and Rachel's impatience nearly had her snapping at him to stop stealing glances down that direction, but she controlled herself. She knew what it felt like to stand and witness that, to see it and wish she was the one that Finn was smiling down at and saying sweet things to. She imagined Sam felt the same way about being in Finn's shoes. After another moment of his face taking on a thoughtful expression, he looked at him.

"Fake date you to make them jealous right?" he clarified.

She nodded, "Precisely. Not only will this hopefully work to our advantage, it will totally give me great acting practice for the future."

Sam pursed his lips for a second and then nodded once, "Alright, I'll do it."

Rachel grinned and clapped her hands together as she bounced in place a little bit. Santana huffed out a sigh as she came out of the choir room door behind the smaller girl.

"Sam, I thought I told you not to talk to the gremlin." The Latina muttered with a sneer.

Rachel inched closer to Sam and grabbed a hold of his hand. It felt odd to hold his hand, and Sam must have felt that weirdness too because he hesitated before he squeezed her small hand back and met Santana's gaze.

"Sorry San, Rachel and I are kinda together now." He shrugged with a half smile.

Rachel was proud of him as he walked away from the dark haired girl gaping at them confusedly, even ignoring the questioning look that Puck gave him as he too came out of the choir room. Sam might have been able to pull this off better than she thought he could.

.

Quinn flinched a little bit as the obstetrician squirted the cool gel for the ultrasound onto her stomach. This was the first appointment she and Finn were going to together, she had already been to two on her own. If her calculations were right, based on when she'd slept with Sam at camp she was already at least three months pregnant, maybe even four. That would explain why there was already the tiniest hint of a bulge in her belly. Finn sat beside her on one of the rolling stools in the room and his hand squeezed onto hers. Today was the day they were finding out whether the baby was a boy or a girl. At first she had questioned Finn's excitement, but then after thinking about it she could understand. He thought it was his baby, of course he would be excited to find out what it actually was.

As anxious as she might have been to find out the sex of the baby, Quinn wasn't anywhere near whole heartedly into it. This baby now growing inside of her was slowly taking everything away from her. She had been completely humiliated when Coach Sylvester had kicked her off of the Cheerios and said the things that she had to her. All she had now was Finn and glee club, and glee club wasn't even on the list of things to make her look good. She didn't want to be 'that pregnant girl' at school. Sure, there were a few other girls on campus who were pregnant too, but it was different. Everyone knew who she was –captain of the Cheerios, president of the celibacy club, she'd made a name for herself. That name was totally destroyed now.

Of course, there had been that completely out of the blue, not to mention beyond strange phone call that she had gotten from Mr. Schuester's wife, Terri. Terri wanted her baby, which Quinn found a little odd considering the woman was supposed to be pregnant herself, but then she'd been informed of the details. A hysterical pregnancy. She wished that could be the case for herself, but the beating heart and moving little pea pod on the ultrasound monitor proved that point to definitely be false.

"It's a girl." The doctor announced with a small smile.

Quinn's eyes moved over to Finn beside her to measure his reaction. He was looking back at her, seeming to do the same thing, only he had more of a smile on his face than she did. She bit her lip and raised her eyebrows.

"A girl." She said.

Finn nodded, "A girl."

The gel was wiped off of her stomach and another appointment was made for a month later for another check up and ultrasound before the doctor told them they were free to go. Quinn let Finn go ahead of her to tell Mr. Schue in the waiting room the news so that she could ask the doctor for clarification on how far along she was. The doctor had looked at her like she might be crazy at first but then told her that she was fourteen weeks along, nearly four months. By the time Sectionals rolled around for glee club in a little less than two months –in December- her baby bump would be way farther out than she had ever wanted her stomach to be in her life. After muttering another thanks to the doctor she went out into the waiting room with Finn and Mr. Schue. Mr. Schue was only there for moral support, but for some reason –probably having to do with her plans to give her baby to Terri- looking at Mr. Schue made her feel uncomfortably guilty. It was a level of guilt she still didn't even quite feel with Finn, almost as if she had managed to convince herself too that Finn was actually the father of the baby.

Mr. Schue dropped them both off at the Fabray's house since Finn's truck had been parked there since right after school. Quinn immediately ran to the mailbox, seizing the medical bills she had been hiding from her parents. Obstetrician checkups were not cheap, and even though she had only gone to a couple on her own, they kept sending the bills again and again, awaiting their payment. She flashed the envelope to Finn, a frustrated look on her face.

"These keep coming Finn, I can't hide them from my mom and dad forever. One of these days they'll find them if they don't get paid off soon." She snapped.

Finn grimaced and ran a hand through his hair, "I've looked for jobs but it doesn't seem like anyone's hiring right now."

She shoved the envelope at him, pressing it against his chest.

"Look harder." She snapped before turning on her heel and going inside her house.

The next few days of the week and then the weekend went by agonizingly slow, but that seemed to be normal for just about every day now, Quinn noticed. After not getting anything from the doctor's office on Thursday and Friday, she had thought that maybe they were in the clear for a while, but then when the mail came that Saturday she barely had snuck the bill out of the mail sitting on the kitchen table before her mother sorted through it. That was what had initiated the fight between her and Finn on Monday morning, luckily they were alone in the choir room at the time.

"My mom was literally this close to finding the bill Finn!" she raised her voice, using her hand to make a gesture to how close her mom had actually been.

"I told you I've been looking for a job, but I can't find anything!" he argued, looking down at the most recent bill she'd thrown at him.

"And I told you to look harder! How do you expect to help me raise a baby when you can't even help me take care of things before she's even here?" she shouted, throwing her hands up in frustration.

Finn's face contorted into an expression of frustration as well, "I'm doing the best that I can Quinn, you could at least give me credit for trying!"

"_Trying _isn't getting these bills paid." She folded her arms across her chest and tapped her foot impatiently, "If you can't work out this simple little thing, then maybe we should just split up."

With that she turned on her heel and stalked out of the choir room into the hallway. Seeing a couple of her old teammates in their Cheerios uniforms only made her frustration that much stronger, adding to it a sort of sadness too. Santana noticed her as she stalked down the hall and asked if she was okay, but Quinn just brushed off her best friend for the moment. She needed someone else to take this out on. Finn was acting like a child and you could only scold a child for so long. Where was Rachel when she needed someone to torture?

Quinn froze in her tracks in the center of the hall as she found exactly who she had been thinking about. Rachel. And she was… Quinn tilted her head to the side a little bit, a look of utter confusion coming to her face. _With Sam_? She didn't waste any more time on her way down the hall toward where the two of them were holding hands and smiling as they talked to each other.

"Sam." She got out through her teeth.

Sam's smile that had been directed at Rachel faltered a little bit as he looked up at her. He looked down at Rachel again and muttered something along the lines of how he would see her later after class then kissed her cheek. Quinn felt like gagging.

"What's up Q?" he asked.

"_Q_? Since when do you call me Q? And since when are you dating RuPaul?" she asked quickly.

"Her name's Rachel actually." Sam corrected, only making her more irritated. "Was there something you needed Quinn? I've gotta get to class."

The usual sweetness in the tone he used with her seemed to be lacking today. Could it actually be possible that he _liked _Rachel? No, there was no way. It couldn't be true. They were dating, but that didn't mean he actually liked her right? Though dating Rachel would practically be like committing social suicide, she couldn't understand why Sam would willingly do that when he was on the football team and glee club already destroyed some of his game. Maybe he really did like her… Quinn scowled in distaste momentarily and folded her arms, face forming into a sneer.

"Actually, I thought you might be interested to know that I've found someone who's going to adopt _my _daughter. That's all." She snapped, then turned to walk away from him.

It seemed like even less than a second after she had turned she heard his locker close and felt his hand around her wrist. He pulled her around the corner where there were less people passing by and looked down at her curiously.

"It's a girl?" he asked softly, and it was obvious he was only talking that quiet to prevent his voice from cracking.

Quinn couldn't help but relax a little bit. There was a certain vulnerability about Sam, and it was different than the whiny and childish vulnerability of Finn. Sam always seemed to show he cared, and even through that, through the fact that he was trying to seem strong and like he was this tough guy that could handle just about anything, he showed that he couldn't. It almost made Quinn feel bad. Almost.

She nodded slowly, looking down at their feet instead of at him, "Yeah, it's a girl."

One of Sam's hands reached out and rested on her barely there baby bump hidden underneath the loose white sweater she wore. Quinn swallowed and looked down at his hand. She found an odd sort of comfort in that, his touching her. Finn was always so fumbling and awkward. In most instances lately he didn't do much other than hug her or hold her hand. Even kissing her didn't happen that much anymore. It was like he was afraid of the whole idea of her being pregnant physically. Sam's hand was warm and calm against her stomach, it was so different in all kinds of good ways. She couldn't help but make all kinds of comparisons to Finn what with her recent frustrations with him. She shook her head a bit, clearing her thoughts and pushed his hand away from her stomach, looking around to make sure that no one walking by had actually noticed.

"Don't do that." She whispered harshly.

"Don't do what?" Sam questioned.

Quinn's eyes narrowed at him, "You know what. Don't try and be all.. comforting and sentimental with me. We're not together. I'm with Finn, this is mine and his baby."

Sam shook his head, "No."

"No?" Quinn raised both her eyebrows.

"Quinn, come on. You can't just keep this from Finn forever, you should just tell him. Then you and I can be together. I can take care of you." He said.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Finn's taking care of me just fine." She lied.

"And what about the baby? Is Finn really gonna take care her too?"

"Finn doesn't have to! Didn't you hear me? She's already got a family waiting for her, they'll be the ones to take care of her."

Sam's jaw tightened, his teeth clenching together as he shook his head and looked passed her for just a moment before his eyes met hers again.

"And you didn't think that maybe I deserved some kind of say in all of this? What if I don't want to give my baby up?" he countered.

Quinn's eyes narrowed and turned into an icy glare, her hands squeezing into fists at her sides, "_You're _not carrying this baby, _you're _not the one that has to deal with all the ridicule and the stares and the pain and the costs that come with this pregnancy. Finn is the father, and Finn deserves a better life than having to be a teenage dad. _I _deserve a better life than having to be a teenage mom. So no, you don't get a say. This is my choice."

Sam looked hurt for a moment and his mouth opened and closed a few times like he was trying to think of the right thing to say. Finally his expression changed to one that was pretty close to matching her own –frustrated, angry- still with that hurt mixed in.

"I won't let you." He said through his teeth.

Quinn felt tears stinging her eyes, a lump rising in her throat. She blinked a couple times and bit down on the inside of her cheek before speaking up again so she didn't immediately start crying.

"Fine. Go ahead then, Sam. Go tell everyone all about the mistake we made this summer, go tell them all that you're my baby's dad and that I'm lying to Finn. Just go and ruin my life further, go on, do it." She muttered, keeping her voice low both so to make sure she wasn't heard and to ensure that her voice didn't give her emotions away.

She could have blamed it on some kind of pregnancy hormone probably, but the fact of the matter was she really did feel hurt. She knew that it wasn't necessarily fair to Sam to keep him out of things the way that she was, but she thought that he of all people would have been the person to respect what she wanted, even more than she expected Finn to. It was a different level of expectation between the two. Sam's face fell and she could almost read the immediate regret that came across it.

"Quinn I'm-"

"Forget it." She cut him off and walked away from him, hurrying to the nearest girls room so she could lock herself in one of the stalls to cry on her own.


	4. Chapter 4: Lean On Me

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to get an update on this one! I got a few reviews asking to update soon and I felt bad I hadn't done so sooner, so here it is. I have a tendency to skip around a little bit in most of my stories, but this one especially. You'll see some of that skipping around in this chapter, that's why I mention it. Hope you enjoy :) –Kay.

Chapter 4-

It had been a whole week since Sam had even gotten so much as a sideways glance from Quinn. He and Rachel were still going through with their whole relationship charade and while he was glad that he was helping Rachel out with the Finn thing, he wished it was actually accomplishing something with Quinn. He didn't even care about making her jealous anymore, he just wanted her to actually acknowledge him.

He was frustrated by the fact that she was so set on giving up the baby –_his _baby- and making all the executive decisions herself, but he knew that the things he had said to her the day that she had told him the baby was a girl were things he shouldn't have said. He would have apologized if the girl would have even looked at him. Even during glee when they were all supposed to be paying attention to each other to make sure no one got knocked over in dance rehearsals, she wouldn't look at him. She made sure she was as far from him as she could be. He hated it.

This week Mr. Schue had decided they were taking a break from the dancing and doing ballads. It wasn't really hard for Sam to get into the idea of singing a ballad, but when Mr. Schue had them pick partners out of a hat for the assignment, he looked forward to it less. He had mentally kept his fingers crossed that when he went up to pick a name out of the hat it would have been Quinn's name and forced the two of them together so he could talk to her, but luck hadn't been with him –he'd gotten Santana.

He had no issue with Santana, she just wasn't the girl he wanted his time to be spent with at the moment. Not to mention the one day he had told her to come to the choir room to rehearse their song, not only had she shown up late because she spent too much time making out with Puckerman in the hallway, she came in on her phone. With Quinn.

"I know Q. Maybe you could sell him. Put an ad on the internet, 'Giant Moron For Sale.' There are creepy people out there that are into that sort of thing." Santana said into the receiver.

Sam rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Santana, can you get off the-" The Latina held up her finger to cut him off.

"Don't even worry about it. You're always welcome at my house, I'm sure you'll get tired of him eventually. When that day comes, I'll kick Puckerman out of my bedroom and you can stay." She continued.

This earned another eye roll from Sam. He already didn't like the idea of Quinn having to stay at Finn's because her parents had kicked her out, he didn't need to be hearing this conversation.

"We're supposed to be working on our song." He mumbled.

Santana looked at him sideways and gave him a look of distaste, "I'll talk to you later Q, I'm being annoyed."

She snapped her cell phone closed and dropped it down the top of her Cheerios top. Sam looked away from her as she took the time to adjust its placement. When she was finished he sighed and looked back at her.

"You were supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago." He noted.

"So what? Did you not see the fact that I was on the phone?" Santana said with a roll of her eyes.

"We have to work on this song for this week's assignment, that kind of involves both of us." Sam said, trying to contain his slight irritation.

Santana waved her hand dismissively, "Like I could even focus on some stupid glee club assignment right now. My best friend is going through baby drama to the max, it's exhausting."

"I really don't want to hear about it." He mumbled, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Finn's such a loser, he can't even get a job. I mean, seriously where is he looking under a rock? There's tons of places hiring around here. Quinn keeps trying to defend his ability to be a father but really, come on. If he can't even find a simple job-"

"Santana. I really _don't _want to hear about it."

"Well you should. They're your friends aren't they? I know I come off as a bitch, but even I know that when something like this happens you're supposed to care about your friends. Now Finn, he's not my friend, so I don't care about him so much. Doesn't mean he doesn't still have a baby to father." She shrugged.

Something was bubbling up inside of Sam. He wasn't sure if anger was the right word to use for it, but whatever it was it pushed him to the edge. He was passed irritation, passed being hurt that Quinn wouldn't let him have a part in his own kid's life, passed being jealous that she picked _Finn _over him, passed being frustrated that everyone else was pitying the wrong guy. He was just done dealing with it.

"Finn's not the father." He snapped, glaring down at the back of the piano.

There was a moment of silence as his words hung in the air. He didn't look up at Santana to measure her reaction just yet. He could feel his cheeks burning, but he refused to call it blushing because he wasn't embarrassed, he was angry. Not to mention dudes weren't supposed to blush.

"What did you say?" Santana asked, her voice raised an octave.

Sam swallowed thickly and licked his lips. He was in deep shit now. If Santana knew, that meant she would mention something to Quinn, and if Quinn knew that he had told someone… She was never going to talk to him again, that was pretty much set now. Slowly he moved his eyes from where he'd kept them locked on the glossy black surface of the piano to look at the Latina again.

"Finn's not the father." He repeated, less harshly this time.

Santana scoffed, folding her arms across her chest, "Right, and I suppose you are then?"

Her voice was full of sarcasm, like she didn't believe it.

"You honestly believe Quinn had se- Slept with Finn?" he asked.

Her eyes narrowed in thought for a moment until they widened again in realization. She opened and closed her mouth a couple times, then her normal look of bitchy composure was back again.

"And you're just _letting _him take _your _baby like that? Aren't you a guy, or did you suddenly become a spineless chick and I wasn't aware of it?" she sneered.

Sam looked down again, "It's what Quinn wants."

"Oh yeah right. I know Quinn, Quinn wants security. She's told me the only reason she's still with Finn is because he's quarterback. Get ranking Blondie."

"I already tried making her jealous by pretending to date Rachel."

"First of all, gag me, I don't even want to think about that, fake or not, secondly, making her jealous isn't going to make her leave Finn. Being better than him will."

Sam's brow furrowed. He was unsure of how he should have taken that comment.

"Uh, am I not already better than Finn?" he asked.

"Seriously Sam, you're like a puppy. It's like I have to lead you on your little leash to what you're supposed to do."

Sam blinked.

"Get the quarterback position from him. And dump Manhands, just.. ewh."

.

Finn was really beginning to feel a weight on his shoulders. He was actually starting to wonder if it was going to make him shorter or something. It wasn't like a literal weight sitting on his shoulders when he walked around all the time, but it seemed like it would be enough. It was stupid to be thinking like that or worrying about something like that when there were way more important things for him to be worrying about. Like the fact that his once-cheerleader girlfriend was pregnant with his baby, they needed money to cover medical bills, and her parents had kicked her out of the house when he'd pulled the idiot move of thinking it was okay to sing that song to her. Top it all off, he was pretty sure he was falling for Rachel more and more everyday too. Things just definitely were not going his way.

He was really kind of getting tired of Quinn yelling at him. His mom tried to explain to him that Quinn was just under a lot of stress being a pregnant teenager and having lost all that she had, not to mention something about hormones, but he still wished that Quinn would just chill every now and again and cut him some slack. It wasn't his fault that no one would hire him.

Now that she was staying at his house with him since her parents had kicked her out he didn't even really have an escape from it either. At least until his mom came home or the rare occasions at school where he didn't see her. He didn't want to be this guy dealing with all this stuff. He knew he didn't have much of a choice at this point, but it didn't mean he had to like it.

"Finn!"

Finn flinched awake, quickly lifting his face from his desk. Had he passed out in Spanish again? He was getting really bad at staying awake in class lately. Mr. Schue stood in front of him. With a quick look around, he realized the rest of the class had already left.

"Sorry Mr. Schue, I don't know why I'm so tired lately." Finn mumbled, wiping some drool from his mouth.

"How's Quinn holding up, I heard her parents threw her out." Mr. Schue said.

Finn shrugged, looking down at the desk top, "She's staying with me for now. She's really upset, obviously, but there's not a whole lot I can do.."

"I think the rest of the glee club wanted you guys in there after class. You're late for them, I already told Quinn they were waiting for you two." The teacher noted.

"Right now?" Finn clarified.

Mr. Schuester nodded and went back to his desk. Finn gathered up his things and headed to the choir room. Glee club didn't usually meet until last period of the day and if Rachel had called one of her crazy 'important meetings' today he was pretty sure he would have known about it already. She kind of seemed to make it a point to let him know those kinds of things. Lately she had also made it a point to talk about her relationship with Sam –something that Finn didn't so much enjoy hearing about.

As she got to the choir room finally, he saw Quinn sitting in a chair across from the steps where the chairs usually sat. He raised a brow at her and she shrugged her shoulders so he just sat down in the empty chair next to her. She held her hand out to him and he laced his fingers with hers almost without thinking, it seemed so normal now.

"Hey guys." Mercedes started, bringing their attention to their friends on the steps where they'd usually be seated.

"We know you guys are going through a tough time right now, and it's not much, but we just wanted to say we're here for you." Kurt declared.

"Actually, I'm only here because Kurt said something about magic. I like magic." Brittany added.

Finn blinked and a confused expression crossed his face. Everyone else seemed to just eye Brittany for a moment and move right along.

"Anyway, our assignment this week was ballads, so we'd like to sing one for you." Kurt continued.

Finn looked at Quinn who half smiled at him and gave his hand a squeeze. Some days were a lot better than others with her. At least today she wasn't constantly glaring at him. Brad started playing the opening keys to a song Finn was pretty sure he recognized, but it became more clear as the words were sung that he did know it.

_Sometimes in our lives, we all have pain, we all have sorrow, but if we are wise, we know that there's always tomorrow. Lean on me, when you're not strong, and I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on, for it won't be long, til I'm gonna need somebody to lean on. You just call on me brother, when you need a hand, we all need somebody to lean on._

He couldn't look away from the bright, reassuring smile that was on Rachel's face. She was so pretty, and a lot of the time she was what kept him from totally losing his mind with all this Quinn and baby drama. Had he been paying more attention he might have noticed the way Sam and Quinn were looking at each other…


	5. Chapter 5: Opening Doors

A/N: I'm a terrible updater! I know this, I do. Sometimes I go weeks without updating, sometimes I pick and choose which stories I actually do update quickly, I'm sorry! I'm actually starting my first college classes ever this week, but it's only 3 nights a week and then one morning on the weekends, hopefully it won't be too bad. Just figured I'd give that heads up in case updates come slowly again. I promise I'll get to them at some point, as soon as I can. There's a bit more happy Fabrevans in this one than usual, so hopefully you guys enjoy that :) –Kay.

"We need to break up."

Sam and Rachel both raised their eyebrows at each other at the same time. Sam had been planning to tell Rachel that their little game of fake dating was off for the whole week now. Now that it was Friday morning he'd finally worked up the courage to actually say something about it. He hadn't been expecting Rachel to want them to stop too. Not that he was complaining, it would make it easier on him if he didn't have to argue with her about it.

"It's just, it doesn't seem to be working the way I thought it was. I mean, it's terribly obvious the way Finn gets jealous when I talk about you to him, but he's not actually doing anything about it. The two of them are a lot tighter in their relationship than I thought." Rachel explained.

"Yeah.. Santana told me Quinn wants security, so I have to be better than Finn. Apparently that involves dumping you…" He trailed off awkwardly and looked passed the brunette down the hall.

Rachel frowned, "As offending as that statement was, I think this break up will do us good. You'll be free to pursue Quinn better without my holding you back and I'll be able to create some kind of sob story that makes Finn pity me now that you've dumped me."

"Do me a favor and don't give the guy another reason to pummel me." Sam grimaced.

Rachel's face took on a look of confusion, "Another reason?"

Sam's eyes widened momentarily. He hadn't really thought before opening his mouth –something he seemed to be pretty good at as of late.

"Uh, you know, he's already got football reasons. I'm pining for quarterback, he is quarterback." He covered quickly.

"Oh. Okay." She replied as if that was all the answer in the world. "I'll see you in glee club, Sam. I have to go make it a point that I'm single now."

Sam nodded at her and huffed out a sigh of relief as soon as she was around the corner and out of sight. That had been close. It was a good thing that no one had any reason to be suspicious of Sam. Barely anyone outside of glee club even bothered to talk to him unless they were teachers, and even then, none of them knew just how close he and Quinn had been at camp over the summer. Still, he needed to be careful what he said and to who. With Santana knowing the truth now and nagging him every day to do something to change the current situation, he was getting to the point where he was about ready to tell Quinn he was sorry but he couldn't keep it from everyone anymore. It was eating at him every day.

His parents had no idea about any of it either, and that made him feel even guiltier. He hardly kept anything from his parents, and this was definitely the kind of thing that they would have had advice for him on. Though they had noticed that since Quinn's parents had kicked her out the Fabrays hadn't been at church on Sundays and asked him if he knew anything about that. He had mumbled some response about how they were just going through some family related stuff and he didn't know exactly what it was because he really hadn't talked to Quinn that much.

Sam looked down the hallway where Quinn was approaching her locker. If Sam had been counting correctly, they were hitting the five month mark now of her pregnancy. Her stomach certainly seemed like she as about five months pregnant. He couldn't believe it had already been five months. He watched as people eyed her judgingly as they passed her. She did her best to ignore them, but he didn't miss the way her jaw tightened and she swallowed like she was trying to keep back crying or snapping at them.

At the moment she was carrying her binder and one of her text books. Even though he knew it wouldn't be something heavy for her to carry normally, she looked like she was having a hard time with it now. She already had enough weight to carry lately, where was Finn to take care of this kind of thing for her? He saw it the second before it happened and winced as Quinn's binder slipped out of her grasp right in front of her locker, the folder falling open and some of her papers scattering around.

No one walking passed her stopped to help her pick her things up, they just kept walking. Sam frowned and rushed over to her to help her. She was about to bend down to pick up her things for herself when he got there. He gathered her scattered papers together in a stack and tucked them back into the front pocket of her binder. He gave Quinn a half smile as he stood back up again with her binder in his hands.

"Thank you." She muttered, the smallest hint of a smile tugging up the corners of her mouth.

It was the only thing she had said to him in a few weeks now. He nodded once in response and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his letterman jacket. He stayed quiet as Quinn put her things away in her locker, keeping silent until she turned to look at him again.

"Did you want something?" she asked, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"I, um.." he hadn't really thought through anything to say. "Stevie and Stacey miss seeing you at church on Sundays." He blurted out.

Surprisingly, she let out a light laugh and her cheeks actually blushed, "I didn't think they remembered me."

Sam smiled, "Of course they do, you were their favorite Bible Study instructor. They always ask when you're coming back."

"I wish I knew." She sighed then chewed on her lip.

"I could always drive you. I know you're staying at.. Finn's, but I could always pick you up there and bring you home afterwards." He offered.

Anything to have a little bit more time with her.

Quinn shrugged and looked down at the bulge in her stomach, "I don't know that I actually want to go back right now."

Sam's teeth worked at the inside of his lower lip for a moment. He wasn't sure what to say. Quinn had to be going through some kind of hell, being the girl that once had all the popularity and the highest respect in the school to being the pregnant girl that no one would even help pick up her papers. He could understand why she wouldn't want to go back to church. As open and forgiving as the whole spirituality thing was supposed to be, the people at church would definitely give Quinn the same looks that people at school did, only it would be worse at church because most of them were adults. Sam decided changing the subject for now was a good idea if he actually wanted to keep her talking to him at the moment.

"Tonight's my parent's anniversary, they're going out to a fancy dinner and stuff and I'm in charge of babysitting Stevie and Stacey." He started, getting a kinked brow in response from Quinn, "Do you wanna come over and watch them with me? I guarantee they would love it if you did."

Quinn bit down on her lip and looked passed him down the hall. He didn't turn to look to see what she was looking at because it was easy enough to guess that she was probably looking in the general direction of Finn's locker. He gave her a hopeful smile instead of pushing her with more pleading. She sighed, a small smile coming to her face again.

"I do miss them." She admitted with a slight nod, "Shouldn't you ask your girlfriend about that kind of thing first though?"

The way she said the world girlfriend made it obvious that she had in fact been jealous of whatever he had been doing with Rachel, fake or not. She didn't need to know that it wasn't real. It probably would have just made her mad that he was so willing to try and get to her like that.

"Rachel and I broke up." Sam answered. "No worries there. Should you… um, ask Finn though?"

He really didn't feel like anything Finn had to say about the matter actually had any real relevance considering the truth in the situation between Quinn and himself, but he figured he would be the good guy and ask for clarification anyway.

"I should probably mention something to him. Maybe.." she mumbled, her eyes still focused passed him.

Sam finally turned to glance over his shoulder only to find that Quinn's gaze was so transfixed down the hall because Rachel was at Finn's locker talking to him. Well she got right to the moving on point too didn't she? He turned back to look at Quinn again and she almost looked like she was ready to cry. He wanted to hug her.

"Or you could just not say anything to him about it until tomorrow?" he offered hesitantly, not wanting to upset her further.

Quinn blinked a few times and finally looked at him again, meeting his eyes.

"I think I like that idea better."

.

Quinn couldn't believe she was actually going through with this plan. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing –she had very obviously done worse things in her life than this- but still. After an after school argument with Finn about his talking to Rachel in the hallway earlier that day, he had told her that he was going over the gremlin herself's house to go over some stuff for glee club. As angry as Quinn had been about it, she actively reminded herself of the baby that she was currently carrying. A lie like that was a lot worse than making up something about working out glee club plans when Manhands probably had a lot more than that in mind. Though knowing Rachel it wouldn't get passed kissing, still, that _was _cheating. Not that Quinn could really talk too much in that department.

Though, helping Sam babysit his four and five year old little brother and sister didn't really constitute as 'cheating.' In fact, it was currently serving as a really nice distraction from all of the frustrating thoughts Quinn seemed to have running through her head.

The two blonde children were giggling, sitting on the floor cross-legged with her. She was teaching them one of those hand-clapping games she had had to teach her cabin kids at summer camp and they would erupt into a fit of giggles each time any one of them missed the other's hand. Quinn couldn't help but smile. How come things couldn't stay as simple as they were for little kids forever?

Sam came out of the kitchen where he had been pulling a frozen pizza out of the oven and cutting it up for the kids, pizza slices on plates.

"Sounds like you guys are having fun in here." He smiled.

Quinn smiled back as he looked at her. As hostile as she had been toward Sam lately, it was hard for her to be upset in this environment. She liked it. Sam set Stacey and Stevie's plates of food down on the dining room table and the two got up and hurried over to eat their dinner. Quinn looked up at Sam from her spot on the floor as he stood over her.

"Do you want some of the pizza?" he asked, holding both of his hands out to her to help her up.

She wrinkled her nose a little bit, the thought of pizza definitely not appealing to her, and reached up to grab Sam's hands so he could help her back to her feet. It took some effort and she stumbled forward into him after the fact, but thankfully he righted her easily enough. She mumbled a thanks under her breath and looked over at the kids as they snickered to each other. When she looked at them they both looked away guiltily as they were caught staring at her.

"Sammy, are you and Quinnie gonna get married?" Stacey asked, turning around fully on her chair to look over the back of it at them.

Quinn laughed outright, a little hysteric sounding, and shook her head. Sam didn't laugh, but he told his little sister that no, they weren't getting married because Quinn was just his friend and her boyfriend wouldn't be too happy if they did that.

"Quinn's got a boyfriend?" Stevie asked with wide eyes.

Quinn felt her cheeks blush and she looked down at the floor.

"Guys, leave Quinn alone. She came here to play with you right? Don't make her feel like a weirdo or I'll have to take her home." Sam chastised.

Both Stacey and Stevie muttered apologies to the both of them and went back to their pizza. Sam nodded Quinn into the kitchen and she followed.

"Sorry about that." He said quietly so the kids wouldn't hear him.

"They're kids." She shrugged, "They don't really.. get it." Her hands went to rub her baby bump without her thinking about it.

Sam looked down at her hands there on her stomach for a moment and then back up at her eyes.

"You're really great with them. They like playing with you." He noted.

She smiled and nodded a little, "I've always been pretty good with kids."

She noticed the way that Sam shifted on his feet. His eyes flicked back to the doorway out of the kitchen into the area where the kids were eating. She had a feeling she knew where this conversation was going so she bit down on her lip to keep from snapping at him before he even said anything. It had actually been a good night –a first for her in a while- she didn't want to ruin that right now if she didn't have to.

"You really would be a good mom, Quinn." Sam said finally, looking down at the linoleum beneath their feet.

She shook her head a little bit, "I don't want to be a mom at sixteen, Sam. I can't take care of a baby right now."

"But _we _could." He said, looking back up at her and putting a hand on top of hers on her stomach, "We could do this whole parenting thing Quinn, I honestly believe we could."

Listening to the way he was so sure about it, the way he was trying so hard to convince her that what he believed was actually true, combined with the look on his face nearly had her reserve crumbling. She bit down on the inside of her cheek and haltingly moved her other hand on top of his so it was sandwiched in between both her hands. Sam tensed a little bit, clearly not expecting that.

"I can't, Sam." She said softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

He swallowed and licked his lips as if his mouth were suddenly dry and looked up from their hands to meet her eyes again. He moved a little closer to her and hesitantly rested his free hand on the side of her face. His thumb brushed over her cheekbone and she felt herself blush beneath his hand.

"Do you trust me?" he whispered.

Quinn took in a shaky deep breath. Her thoughts echoed with memories of the summer. Those words had left her own mouth before they had even gone to that empty cabin on another campsite after lights out. Before they'd even…

Sam leaned closer to her, touching his lips gently to hers. Quinn's breath caught in the back of her throat and she froze. It wasn't that she didn't like Sam kissing her, it had taken her by surprise. His mouth lingered against hers for a moment until he very slowly pulled his lips from hers and leaned his forehead against hers. She kept her eyes closed, not sure what would happen if she looked at him right away.

"_Oh!_" She squeaked suddenly, her eyes flying open.

Sam flinched away from her, clearly thinking her surprise had something to do with him. His hand pulled away from being between hers, but Quinn wasn't focusing on that at the moment. Her widened eyes stared down at her stomach, her hands on either side of her bump.

"Quinn, I'm sorry." Sam muttered quickly, still obviously not understanding that her current reaction didn't have anything to do with his kissing her.

She shook her head, still not looking up from her belly at him.

"She's… she's _moving_." A smile formed on Quinn's face as the words left her mouth.

That had to be what that popping feeling in her stomach was. The only way she could think to describe it was like popcorn popping inside her stomach. It was just the slightest tapping movement, but it was the most she had felt thus far, so it took her by surprise. Her doctor had told her that she would start feeling movement anywhere between five and seven months, but it had taken her completely by surprise now.

Sam moved closer to her again, slower and more hesitantly this time.

"She is?" he asked softly, sounding very much like a little kid.

Quinn nodded with a light laugh. It was really strange feeling. The only kind of thing she had felt inside her stomach was when she felt sick or nervous or something. This was real, physical movement going on in her stomach. It was kind of intriguing in its own way.

"It's like she knew." Sam muttered and even without looking up at him right away Quinn could hear the smile in his voice.

She looked up at him finally, still unable to remove the smile from her face or her hands from her stomach –just in case the movement came back again.

"Knew what?" she asked.

"That we had been talking about her." He answered.

Quinn chewed at her lower lip and moved her hands out of the way as Sam went to rub her stomach slowly again, probably wanting to feel the movement she had mentioned for himself. The baby was technically his daughter after all.

"Sammy we're done!" Stevie announced loudly as he came into the kitchen, causing both Sam and Quinn to jump in surprise.

She had nearly forgotten that the whole point of her even being there was because of Stacey and Stevie. Her cheeks were red and warm with a blush as she turned to the two kids.

"Why don't you two give your plates to Sam and the three of us will go play again?" she offered quickly.

Both kids nodded and handed their plates over. Quinn spared one last glance over her shoulder at Sam who now had a slightly sad expression on his face instead of the smile he had had when they had come into the kitchen. She did her best to ignore it as she went back into the living room a minute after the kids had. As she walked into the room, she caught the end of the two young ones' conversation.

"I bet'cha they were kissing. Big kids do that stuff." Stevie said quietly to Stacey.

Stacey clapped her hands together with a wide smile, "That means they're gonna be together forever like Mama and Daddy right?"

"Duh Stacey, kissing means they love each other. Just like Mama says." Stevie replied.

Quinn's teeth dug into her lower lip, but she tried to ignore what she had caught them talking about as well as the thoughts now swirling around in her head as she made the effort to sit down with them and play again.


	6. Chapter 6: Cat's Out of the Bag

A/N: School's going to be a pretty big handful for me even with just the few classes I'm taking. I have a couple days off during the week though so during that time I'll try to get updates done for you guys. I woke up today with the idea for this chapter in my head so I figured since it's been a week or so again I would update. Hope you guys enjoy it :) –Kay.

Chapter 6-

It was during glee club rehearsals that Rachel first noticed the way things had changed with Quinn and Sam. They talked more, they exchanged glances and smiles when they thought no one was looking, but what was even more strange was the way Sam took to rushing to her aid every time something was wrong. The other day during dance rehearsals, Quinn had slipped and fallen. Both Finn and Sam had rushed to her side.

"Are you okay? Is the baby alright?" Finn had asked in a rush.

"Maybe we should take her to the nurse." Sam had offered, only for them both to receive a glare and a snappy response for Finn to help her up from the blonde.

At first Rachel had just thought the newly blossomed smiles and conversations between her two blonde teammates was because her and Sam's plan with the break up had worked out for them, but she wasn't having any luck with Finn and while Quinn and Sam seemed to be on better terms now, Quinn was still with Finn and spending nearly all her time with him. Something else was up.

It had been two weeks since Finn had come over to her house. They were supposed to have been making plans for Sectionals since it was coming up in the next few weeks, but all he did was rant about all the things going on with Quinn. She had tried to give him advice and help him out, but she wasn't sure she had made any impact. She was trying to show him that she cared –obviously more than Quinn did about him- but he still seemed to be focused on nothing but his pretty little blonde girlfriend and their baby.

She had stayed in the choir room a few minutes later than normal today, finding Mercedes, Kurt, Tina, and Artie had stayed to. She made it a point to make sure that Quinn, Finn, and Sam weren't actually in the room or about to come back in before she moved over toward the piano where Kurt and Mercedes were standing. They nodded to her and she decided to get to the point quickly.

"Don't you guys find it a little strange that Sam rushed to Quinn's side the other day in rehearsals?" she asked.

Mercedes and Kurt exchanged a look she wasn't sure how to measure.

"Why would that be strange? Sam's a nice guy, he helps a lot of people." Kurt said indifferently.

"Yeah, it's no big deal." Mercedes added.

"But he seemed so concerned, like almost more so than Finn did." Rachel noted thoughtfully.

Once again, Kurt and Mercedes eyed each other then looked over at Artie and Tina.

"Look Rachel, we gotta go." Mercedes blurted out quickly.

The four of them shuffled –or rolled in Artie's case- their way out of the choir room. Rachel frowned and folded her arms across her chest.

.

"Wait, so you mean to tell me that Manhands _knows_?" Santana asked into the receiver of her cell phone. "Look Wheezy, I didn't go telling Britts and you so that everyone and their mother could find out the baby drama. If Berry knows, Q is screwed."

Santana knew she probably shouldn't have said anything to anyone in the first place after she had found out the news from Sam, but it kind of just slipped out. She had told Puck first and he had wanted to say something to Sam about it, make sure his boy was okay and whatever, but she had made him swear not to tell anyone. The same promise had been required of Mercedes, but obviously the girl ran her mouth a bit more than Puck did. Pretty much everyone in glee club knew now.

"We didn't tell her anything, we just left the room, but I'm pretty sure she knows. She was getting all suspicious." Kurt added on the other line.

"Q doesn't even know all of you guys know, shit, she doesn't even know that _I _know okay. If the dwarf knows something is up, you know she's gonna go tell Finn, and then everything's going to blow up. And do you think I want that on my head? No, I don't." Santana snapped.

She turned her leer at no one down the hallway, her eyes narrowing even more as she saw Puck approaching her. He had that stupid crooked smirk on his face that he usually did right before he came and told her she was being a pain in the ass and he wanted them to get back together –again- just like usual.

"Gotta go. Make sure the midget says nothing." She finished, snapping her cell phone closed and adjusting it into its regular place in her bra.

She turned to the mirror on the inside of her locker door, feigning a look of indifference as she fixed her Cheerios ponytail and put on some more lip gloss. She could see Puck standing behind her, but she didn't turn to look at him.

"San, come on, quit." Puck muttered behind her.

Santana rolled her eyes and put her typical sneer on her face as she turned around to look at him, arms folded across her chest.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I can't talk to you. My boyfriend doesn't like it when I talk to other guys." She sneered.

Puck laughed dryly, "You don't do boyfriends unless they're me, so I'm calling you out on that one."

She glared at him, her arms tightening where they were folded. He knew her way too well. She didn't want any other boyfriend, this was all just a part of the charade she usually put on when they got in an argument and frustrated with each other and 'broke up.' It usually didn't last more than four or five days, today was day three.

"You'd be surprised what I _do _that's not you." She smirked tauntingly.

Puck rolled his eyes, "You're full of shit. Now stop being a stubborn pain in the ass and just get back together with me already."

Santana's eyes moved up the hall a little ways to the small janitor's closet that the two of them got more use out of than any of the janitor's that worked here. She knew what was coming next, it was always the same. The smirk on her face turned less taunting and angry and more sly and seductive. She grabbed the front of his t-shirt and dragged him with her down the short distance to the closet.

As soon as they were in the small space and the door was closed behind them, Puck was kissing her and they were already tugging at each other's clothes. She knew that was all the answer he needed to the question of their getting back together. Right now she didn't care about Quinn's issues.

.

Rachel stood at her locker, tapping her fingers against the metal of the open door. She was looking down the hall at Quinn at her locker, her lip caught between teeth. Sam was standing with Quinn and obviously the two didn't realize that people were actually paying attention to them based on how close they were standing to each other. Rachel had a gut feeling that something else was going on with the two of them, something that everyone else but she and Finn seemed to know about. She had her own suspicions, but she was just waiting for something to actually confirm it before she went to tell Finn. She had to tell him if something was wrong, it wasn't fair to him not to know about something going on with his own girlfriend –even if Rachel's motives for telling him about it were not just to be a good friend.

She squinted her eyes as Quinn's face lit up in a smile. She tried to make it as unobvious as possible as she maneuvered, trying to get a look at what was going on in the small space between the two blondes. Finally she came to realize what it was. Sam had his hand resting on the bump in Quinn's stomach. He said something to her that caused her to blush and laugh as she pushed his hand away from her stomach.

Rachel's brow furrowed. Pieces were all coming together in her head. Sam had always looked worried about Quinn when the announcement that she was pregnant had first been let out. He always had a sad, dejected look on his face when he saw Quinn with Finn, and it was worse than the way that Rachel looked when she saw the two of them –like there was more to it for Sam. Since Quinn had been left alone a couple weeks ago when Finn had gone over to her house, Sam and Quinn had been a lot closer. Then there had been the incident the other day when he had rushed to her side when she'd fallen. And now.. now they were talking and smiling and laughing in the middle of the hallway together… _while he touched her stomach. _Not even Finn did that. But Sam couldn't be…

Well, she really didn't know much about Quinn and Sam's past. She had heard that Quinn worked at a Summer camp all summer, and while she didn't know what Sam had done, she knew that he hadn't been around to run into in Lima while they were out of school. The pieces fit, and it made some sort of sense of things.

She _had _to tell Finn. Quinn was allowing him to believe that he had to stay with her and had to take responsibility for the unborn child because she was telling him it was his. It wasn't.

"Hey Rachel." She flinched the moment she heard the voice beside her.

Sam had already left Quinn she noticed –probably because he had seen Finn coming. Rachel turned to look up at Finn, her lower lip still clamped tightly between her teeth. The friendly smile on Finn's face faltered and his brow furrowed as he took in the distressed look on her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I-I have to tell you something…"

.

The punching had come out of nowhere. One second they were all standing in the choir room waiting for Mr. Schuester to get there, Quinn talking to Sam since Finn hadn't actually showed up yet, and the next, suddenly there was Finn, and his fist was colliding again and again with Sam's jaw. Sam had thrown in a few good punches to Finn too, but whatever had Finn's anger fueled just kept him going.

Quinn stood with her mouth hanging open, tears stinging her eyes as she watched Puck try to tug Finn back off of Sam, Mike grabbing hold of Sam's arms to hold him back from going after Finn as soon as they were separated. They weren't separated for long though, Finn swung out again and landed a blow right to the side of Sam's face. Santana was yelling in Spanish in the background, her words definitely sounded very far from friendly.

"Stop it, Finn, stop!" Quinn shouted, only taking a couple steps closer to their fight before she was recoiling back as fists were flying again.

Finally Mr. Schuester came running into the room, coming in between them.

"Break it up, now! What's going on?" he raised his voice, looking seriously at Finn.

"He just came in here out of nowhere and started sucker punching me!" Sam snapped as he rubbed his already bruising jaw.

"You're lucky I had to stop, Evans." Finn snapped back, pushing forward toward him.

"Finn, stop it!" Mr. Schue yelled, holding him back with Puck's assistance.

"No, they're both lying to me!" Finn yelled loudly.

Quinn felt her chest tighten and her stomach drop. The baby in her belly that had been moving about ten minutes ago wasn't moving at all now. She kept her hands on her stomach as if she were trying to protect the baby girl inside as she took a step closer to Finn.

"Who told you that?" She asked.

"It had to have been Rachel." Kurt blurted out.

"What? I-I didn't do anything.." Rachel stammered guiltily.

"Yeah, it was Rachel, okay, but that doesn't matter. Just tell me, is it true?" Finn asked.

Quinn sucked her lower lip into her mouth and her teeth immediately dug into it. Her eyes flicked over to Sam for not more than a second before looking back at Finn, suddenly blurred with the tears that filled them. She nodded once slowly.

"Yes…" she whispered, "Sam is the father."

Finn's face contorted into a combination of confusion and betrayal. She should have known better than to think that nothing bad would come of all of this.

"All that stuff you said about the hot tub… you just.. you just made that up?" he asked, his brow furrowed.

"You believed her." Sam mumbled.

Finn lunged forward toward Sam again, but between Puck and Mr. Schue they kept him held back again. Quinn felt the tears rolling down her cheeks already and shook her head back and forth slowly.

"I'm so sorry, Finn." She sobbed.

Finn scowled at her and shook his head, "I'm done with you!" He turned his glare on Sam and then the rest of club and threw his hands up in frustration. "I'm done with all of you!"

He turned and kicked over one of the chairs near the piano before storming angrily from the room. Quinn hid her face in her hand as she cried. She counted back from thirty in her head, somewhere amongst the dull mumbles of people talking to each other around her in the choir room, she heard Sam's voice calling her name, so she too hurried from the room. Not after Finn, just to get away from it all. She felt entirely too ashamed of herself to continue standing there with all of them.

She rushed down the hall –unable to really run properly like she would have liked to in her current state- and stopped only when her body was ready to collapse there in the center of the hall. She slowly moved over to one of the benches in between the lockers and sat down, sniffling to herself as her hands moved to her seven month baby bump without thinking.

She had already had a very trying week. She had found out that Mr. Schue learned of Terri's fake pregnancy, and now she had no one she actually knew to adopt her baby. Some days she was positive that adoption was what she wanted to do and then there days that Sam was around more that she felt when he had told her when she had been over at his house could be true, they could be good parents and make it through high school still if they had each other to rely on. Today was not one of the better days.

She had thought that she had things so under control, that no one, especially not Finn, would ever know about the secret that she was keeping, the lie that she was telling. She would have had Finn, had whatever social standing came with still dating the quarterback and having 'his' baby, and hopefully getting everything they had worked for before she had gotten pregnant back after the baby was born, but all chances of that now were gone. Finn hated her, and he had plenty good a reason too, but that didn't make accepting the situation any easier on her.

Quinn's eyes, still brimming with the last of her tears, moved up to look at Rachel as she came up to where she was sitting. She couldn't figure out why Rachel, of all people, would be coming to talk to her. This was her fault after all, she was the one that had somehow, miraculously found out and told Finn. Quinn knew somewhere in the back of her mind that she was being completely irrational. She hadn't had the strength to tell Finn the truth and she was going to keep him wrapped up in her lie for as long as possible, Rachel had merely been able to do what she couldn't.

Rachel sat down next to her hesitantly and Quinn kept her hazel-green eyes locked straight ahead at the lockers across the hall from where they sat on the bench.

"Quinn, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have-" Rachel cut off as she saw Quinn shaking her head slowly.

"Don't be sorry." Quinn said softly, "You just did what I couldn't do."

Rachel sighed, "But my reasoning for wanting to tell Finn in the first place when I found out was selfish. I didn't mean for it to hurt either one of you the way that it has now."

"Well, it's a little late to take that back now." The blonde muttered indifferently.

"I'm so-"

"Can you just go please? I really want to be alone right now." Quinn cut her off, her eyes closing.

She opened them slowly again to watch as Rachel walked away, only to nearly bump into Sam as he came out of the choir room and down the hall. _So much for being alone. _Quinn thought to herself. Sam and Rachel exchanged an awkward look and then he moved so that he was sitting down on the bench next to Quinn. She didn't turn to look at him at first, still keeping her eyes focused straight ahead.

"I-I wish I knew what I was supposed to say right now, but I don't." Sam said softly.

Quinn shook her head slowly, still not looking at him. Part of the thing with Sam was, as much as he showed much more maturity than Finn did sometimes, and he had her honestly believing that he would be able to take care of her, he had the same kind of naivety. It wasn't quite the same as Finn's, but they both had very childlike qualities about each of them. Sam's seemed to be coming out more at the moment.

"Right. Let me talk then." She said slowly, careful to think through each of her words before she actually said them. Very slowly she half turned so that she was looking at him. "I know you have it in your head that everything's going to be fine, even now with Finn and everyone else knowing, but it's not Sam. I still don't want this for myself."

"But Quinn, if you and I just.. worked together, we really could handle taking care of that baby. _Our _baby." Sam began to argue, his hand reaching to touch her stomach.

It had been almost a comfort lately, knowing that someone actually still did want to touch her in the state she was in. She was used to the judgmental glances and the whispered gossip about her in the hallways, the fact that anyone took time to acknowledge her in any way was nice, but with Sam it was a different kind of nice entirely. It was a comfort that she didn't want now though because it would only throw off her train of thought.

She shook her head and stood, gently pushing his hand away from her. His mouth hung open and closed again slowly, his teeth clenching together. She could see the purple bruising of his jaw already and mentally reminded herself that that too was her fault. Finn's pain, her own pain, Sam's pain, they were all her fault. She didn't want to be responsible for hurting anyone else, especially not hurting Sam again.

She didn't want to be a mother at sixteen, that was that. She may not have had the assurance of having Terri and Mr. Schue parent her daughter, but there were plenty of other families out there who wanted babies too, and this baby could go to one of them. She wanted all of this to stop, to be over. She wanted her old life back, being a Cheerio, living at home where her parents actually cared and accepted her, people knowing who she was for all the good reasons. She hated the way that she felt in her own skin now, and she certainly wasn't going to allow the feelings to continue after the baby was born because she was taking care of her all the time.

"I'm sorry, Sam, but… I have to do this my way. On my own." She said and though her voice was quiet, it rang with a certain kind of finality that indicated that no arguing would change her mind.

Sam must have recognized that in her tone of voice, because just before she turned and walked away from him –once again, her arms cradling the bump in her belly- she noticed the glaring glossiness that could only come from the light's reflection off the tears that had collected there.


End file.
